Then and Back Again
by Valturial
Summary: After a long and brutal war, Madara finally won.  But, by a stroke of luck, Naruto gained a second chance and will risk his very soul for the opportunity to save them all...
1. Bending the Rules

**Chapter 1: Bending the Rules**

He'd lost. Finally, utterly lost.

Naruto sighed to himself, looking around into the darkness between worlds. He floated on nothing and saw nothing, but he wasn't without sensation. He hurt, profoundly. Every fiber of his being hurt, and at first it had been crippling. The whole of existence had been pain, and he hadn't even been able to think. But that was past now, he seemed to have gotten almost used to it. It hadn't quite dulled, but it was further away from him. Or perhaps his consciousness was further away from it, not that it really mattered.

He could think again, and that was the problem. He could do nothing but reflect on his failure. Madara had captured him and started the extraction. Naruto had lost.

And it didn't surprise him, not after everything that had happened. He'd failed everyone, lost so much. First Sasuke, then Jiraiya, then Tsunade, Kakashi, Konoha, everything. It was about time that he finally...

*SMACK*

He cringed and covered the back of his head as the sudden shock more than the pain snapped him out of his line of thought.

"No child of mine is gonna think like that!"

Naruto spun around to face the feminine voice and found himself face to face with a pretty, red haired woman with a scowl on her face. He opened his mouth to speak-

"I mean, OK, so things kinda suck now, but they'll get better! You have to believe that! No Uzumaki goes around moping like some... Uchiha. We don't do that! We work and make things good! Just... gah!"

- and snapped it shut as the woman's words sunk in. Child of hers. Uzumaki. That would mean that she was his...

"Mom?"

She stopped ranting and looked at him sharply for a moment before the expression relaxed and a small smile stole over her features.

"Yeah, that's me," she answer in a quiet, almost shy voice. Naruto simply stared at her for a moment before springing forward to scoop her into a hug. After a moment of hesitation she returned the hug, and the two of them embraced in silence.

After a moment they broke apart again and stood staring at each other, both waiting for the other to speak while not knowing where to start.

"I'm not normally this quiet, you know. I just had this whole speech ready and now that I see you it all seems silly," she spoke.

"Yeah," Naruto agreed, "I really don't know what to say, I mean, I know nothing about you." He paused for a moment, trying to come up with something to say. "I don't even know your name..."

"Oh!" she exclaimed. "That's right, you don't." She paused for a moment, then gave him a small wave and said, "Hi, I'm Uzumaki Kushina, it's nice to meet you."

Thoughts and questions raced through his mind, all vying for his attention and combating over control of his mouth. "You have pretty hair," he blurted, and then cringed when he realized what he'd said. She stared at him for an instant before bursting out into laughter.

"You reminded me so much of your father just then, he was all blurted compliments and awkward admissions," she stopped to sigh in remembrance. "He should be here soon. Until then, well, there are some things I want to tell you..."

And they talked. She spoke of her youth, and her destroyed home. She explained her status as a jinchuriki. She told him of his father, and of their first meeting. Their love, marriage, and untimely deaths.

Naruto mostly sat in silence, letting the information flow through him while he considered it. It explained so much. How Madara knew so much about him when no one in Konoha did. Why no one seemed to realize that the Fourth had a kid. How few people connected Naruto with his father despite their obvious similarities in appearance.

...Why the fox wound up in him at all. Why his father appeared in his mindscape during the siege of Konoha. This revealed so much, and yet there was more that he was no doubt missing. Not that it mattered, now that everything...

*THWACK*

"None of that! I could see it in your eyes. No matter how bad things get, an Uzumaki always keeps going! You don't get to give up."

"And this is as good a place as any for me to step in," said a new male voice. Naruto turned to face it and saw his father walking towards them. "There is yet a way to win, you know. It's not over."

"What kind of crap is that? It's over! I lost! Madara is extracting the damn fox as we speak, and there's nothing I can do about it!" Naruto shouted. He stared at his father for a tense moment and then deflated. "I'm sorry, I just... I can't get my hopes up again. I've failed enough." He looked up at his parents. His father seemed understanding and somewhat chagrined. His mother seemed to be unable to decide between sympathy and annoyance.

His father spoke first. "Look, Naruto, I know where you're coming from. Believe me, I do. But I'm serious. You can turn this around. You have to make a choice, but if you're willing to fight then you have a serious chance of beating Madara, of saving them all."

Naruto perked up at that. "All of them? How is that even possible..."

Minato cringed. "Yeah, I guess I should explain." He sighed and considered a moment before continuing. "Before I go on, I want you to listen to everything I have to say before deciding." He looked meaningfully at Naruto.

Naruto stopped and considered. If there was a way out of this, to save his friends and comrades, he had to take it. But his father, the Fourth Hokage, seemed remarkably serious about this. He nodded. It would be far better to listen.

Minato's stance relaxed slightly at that, and he seemed to take a moment to collect himself. "As I was saying, you have to make a choice. There are two ways out of this situation. The first is to wait."

Naruto opened his mouth to object, but his father cut him off. "As I said, listen first." Naruto closed his mouth and nodded, and his father resumed explaining. "The seal I made was specifically designed to prevent extraction. I fully intended for you to be the last jinchuriki of the Kyuubi. If we do nothing, the extraction will fail, spectacularly. The backfire may even be enough to kill Madara, if we're lucky. If we're not, then it will at least destroy whatever he's using to extract and store the tailed beasts. But you will survive."

Naruto gaped at that. "But the extraction process is - it killed Gaara!" he shouted without thinking.

Kushina sighed. "Remember, you're an Uzumaki. We can survive the process, especially with the way your father designed that seal."

Naruto looked again to his father, who nodded. "Right, the seal should help you survive the process, and the fox will be sent to the shinigami's stomach, along with me." Minato paused for a moment, then let out a bark of laughter. "It's really the best solution for you. The fox will be gone, Madara's plans will be crippled, and you get a real chance to beat him for good. The process would weaken you, and there's a chance that one of the tailed beasts would try to finish you off, but you'd probably be able to get away."

Naruto stared at his father. How could he so easily offer himself to be doomed to the shinigami for eternity, alongside the demon fox? It was just, well, stupidly selfless. He turned to face his mother to see what she thought of what Minato had said, and apparently she agreed with Naruto. Kushina was glaring at her husband and looked on the verge of exploding.

Minato seemed sense her displeasure and spoke up again while waving his hands in an attempt at a placating gesture. "Whoa now, I know what you both are thinking. I don't intend to sacrifice myself forever. I mean, I would, but..." he looked over to Kushina as he spoke, and he gulped at her glare, "I have no intent on subjecting you to that, erm, again. Yes, well. Hear me out. I have some theories on how the fox works, and I think I could get back out of the shinigami's stomach again. You see, the fox is something of a nexus, and cannot be fully destroyed. With that in mind, I think I could follow him out of the shinigami. The shinigami works on contract, and, well, never mind. It's long and involved and you two don't really care. The point is, I could get out. I think."

Naruto looked again at his mother. She sighed and seemed to relax some. He gave her a questioning look, which she seemed to notice. "That's about as confident as he gets," she explained. "He may not be too confident, but history shows he's probably correct." She turned and motioned at Minato to continue.

Minato looked back at Naruto and sighed. "The other option is, well, a bit more theoretical. For you, at least. You see, the shinigami has always existed, and will always exist. That's not possible in our universe. Where we come from, everything is finite, including the very universe itself. The shinigami exists outside of that, outside of time. So there's an opportunity there. If it works the way I think it does, then you could use that. You are connected to the shinigami by your seal, and it to you. You can use that timelessness to, well, bend time a bit. You could send yourself back to any point after I sealed it to you. Well, your chakra anyways, not your body"

Naruto gaped for a moment as the implications sank in. He could go back, he could save everyone, even those already dead.

"Now before you agree to it, let me finish," Minato said. "This is mostly theoretical, and I have no way of knowing if it would actually work. It involves going with the fox into the shinigami, and then following the bond between the two halves of the fox back out. Your timing will be difficult to get with any real precision, probably to within a few months at best. And the path will be dangerous and painful. And I don't really know what will happen once you're there. The merger with your younger self's chakra could be dangerous. Fatal, even. There's a lot that could go wrong."

"But if it worked, I could save everyone. Make sure none of it went wrong. I could even save jii-san!"

"Yes, Naruto, you could. But you could also just kill your younger self. I really don't know."

Naruto sobered a little at that. And then another issue occurred to him. "If I go back, what happens to all the people here?"

Minato nodded and smiled at that, though Naruto wasn't sure why. "Good question. Honestly, I don't know. It would either overwrite this reality, or it would branch off into its own. If it overwrote it, then none of this would have happened. It might as well have been a dream of yours. If it creates an alternate timeline, then you'll be removed from it. It would be as if you died during the extraction. The ritual would still fail, violently. The people here would have a chance to save themselves. But you couldn't be a part of it, you'd be giving that all up."

That didn't sound too bad to Naruto. It wasn't as if he'd been too huge of a help, and with Madara set that far back, the survivors probably wouldn't have to deal with him again for a long time. Or the backfire could even kill him. It's not like his presence would help all that much, really. His track record wasn't so great.

"It looks like you've made up your mind," Minato said, breaking Naruto out of his reverie.

Naruto nodded. "Send me back," he said. "If I can save all of them, I have to try."

Minato nodded, a sad smile on his face. "I thought you might say that," he said. "Well then, here's what we need to do. The two of us will go into the shinigami. I'll handle that part. Once we're there, we need to track the Kyuubi's chakra back to your younger body. It won't be easy, and the shinigami's stomach isn't a pleasant place to be. But the Kyuubi's very existence should make it easier. We'll then use its chakra as an energy source, neither of us would have enough to power the technique without it. You'll be sent back to the time you want, and with any luck the Fox will be pulled into the shinigami. I'll still be left to find a way out, but with the temporal disturbance it should be fairly simple. Hell, I may not even have to if you overwrite this timeline." Minato paused for a moment, and then asked, "When do you want to go back to? Ideally you don't want to go back too far, it wouldn't be good to be stuck in an infant's body or anything."

Naruto considered for a moment. Earlier would be better, but he couldn't really do much until after the academy. And it wasn't like he wanted to relive it. So that left only one target. "The day after I graduated from the academy," he said.

Minato nodded. "Let's do this."

Naruto turned to leave, but choked and came to a halt as someone grabbed his collar. He turned to find his mother holding both him and his father. She glared at both of them for a moment before speaking. "This is timeless, you said it yourself. So let's just enjoy the time we do have, while we can. OK? And if you two think you're doing this without me, you're nuts."

Naruto looked to his father, who nodded. So they stopped and stayed together for a time. And for the first time in his life, Naruto truly knew what it was like to have a family. But it couldn't last. After a while, the three of them said their goodbyes in the relative calm before moving into the shinigami's stomach to start the technique.

The trip was more taxing than on Naruto than even what his father had told him to expect. The shinigami's stomach was not a place for mortals. Naruto shuddered in remembrance as feeling came back to his body. He opened his eyes and saw what looked to be the ceiling of a dungeon. He was laying in shallow water, and he heard a faint dripping somewhere nearby.

*Great,* he thought, *I'm in my mindscape.* He sat up to look around and saw the familiar bars of the Kyuubi's seal. But something was wrong. The exit from his mind was on the other side of the bars. He was trapped inside the Kyuubi's cage. Naruto's mind raced as he tried to figure out the situation. He knew he had hit about the right time, but this was something they hadn't planned for. Despite the jumble of thoughts and emotions, a single resounding sentiment summed it all up.

"Shit"

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** So this is it, the start of my first story. I've seen (and sometimes read) a lot of Peggy Sue stories for Naruto (and other fandoms), but most of them seemed to fall into some standard patterns. I'm trying to avoid those, and handle the time travel idea in a way consistent with Naruto's character.

For reference, the Future Naruto's timeline diverged during Pain's siege of Konoha. I'm not going to cover that directly, though I may do so in a future story. Until that happens, you'll just have to wait for the snippets of information I plan on working into the story.

Oh, and I don't really have a solid stance on when to use Japanese versus English in the story. Generally speaking, I plan on sticking to English except when the concept doesn't translate well, but we'll see how well I stick to that.


	2. Scattering Waves

**Chapter 2: Scattering Waves**

"I won't forgive you."

"I'LL KILL YOU!"

Naruto felt a surge of rage, deeper and more malicious than he had ever thought possible. He looked down at the prone body of his teammate and let the rage flow out of him. He would kill that masked boy. Destroy him utterly.

A powerful burst of chakra flooded through his body. It felt wrong, alien, somehow, and burned every part of him it touched. Naruto welcomed it. He could feel the power, the need to destroy everything.

And as quickly as it came, the foreign chakra left. A different chakra flowed through him, chilling by comparison. In its wake it left crystal clarity, replacing the rage with a cold and calculating calm. The sudden change startled Naruto, but he would have time to think on it later. First he needed to win.

He looked up at his opponent, who seemed shocked into inaction. Good. The quick burst of the Fox's chakra would do that to anyone, and he needed the time to think. It wouldn't last long, but it would have to be enough. He looked down again at Sasuke, this time more carefully. As he expected (_Expected? How? He'd think on that later_), Sasuke was still breathing, if only slightly.

He needed to get Sasuke to safety, protect Tazuna, defeat his opponent, and aid Kakashi-sensei if the opportunity presented itself. He wasn't sure how to beat the other boy, and it seemed he was running out of time to think. Well, first thing was first.

His opponent seemed to snap out of his shock and redoubled his attack. Naruto took the instant before the senbon arrived to grab a hold of Sasuke and replace the two of them with spare steel beams. Once out of the ice mirrors he formed a trio of shadow clones to protect Sasuke, then after a moment he formed another trio and sent them to protect Tazuna. The sudden chakra drain surprised him, but after a moment he decided it shouldn't. He didn't have the Fox's infinite supply any more (_Wha? How did he know that? __**Later**_); he was operating entirely on his own supply now. Fortunately, that was still more than most Kages. He'd have to hold off on any more clones unless it was necessary, but he still had more than enough to fight with.

He turned to look back to the ice mirrors and saw them melting. His opponent would be coming soon, and he couldn't fight near Sasuke. Only one choice, then. Naruto ran as loudly as he could towards where he knew his opponent to be. He had to at least keep the boy busy until Kakashi finished with Zabuza. Winning was secondary, he knew.

...But if there was a chance to win, he was going to take it. And as he ran, the basics of a workable plan came to him. He smiled as he closed in on his opponent and attacked with a freshly-drawn kunai. The boy blocked, of course, but the force of the blow seemed to knock him back. Good. He needed to keep the boy on the defensive and prevent that ice mirror technique from reforming.

Naruto's senses warned him just in time, and he twisted to avoid a slew of senbon. They missed anything critical, but he still felt the needles pierce his flesh in a few areas. The new pain brought a reminder of all his older injuries, which seemed to have only partially healed with the small burst of demonic chakra.

"I thought you were dangerous there for a moment, but that feeling is gone now. What was that chakra? It didn't even feel human."

"That's none of your business," Naruto responded. "And it doesn't matter, it's only me now."

The masked boy nodded slightly, seemingly acknowledging and agreeing with Naruto's statement. And then it seemed the break was over, as the boy jumped back some and flew through a series of one handed seals.

Naruto whipped his kunai forward as quickly as he could and rushed towards the boy in a desperate attempt at preventing him from completing the technique. Fortunately, it seemed to work and the masked boy was forced to abandon the seal making to dodge both the kunai and Naruto's short, abrupt jab. Naruto pressed the attack, launching as many short, unpredictable strikes as he could, but the other boy was too fast. All of Naruto's attack were blocked, though not without cost. His opponent slid back under his attacks, and something cracked in his arm after a particularly brutal hit.

That seemed to force him to reconsider, and he jumped back while launching another handful of senbon. This time, Naruto blocked the ones aimed for his vitals and surged forwards again. But he wasn't fast enough and his opponent gained distance. It seemed it was time for a different tactic.

"You're not a bad person," Naruto stated while taking a more defensive stance. "I know you didn't kill Sasuke. You haven't killed your kindness, your good heart. We don't have to fight. We could even be friends. Just put down your weapons and we can talk this out."

The masked boy tilted his head in seeming confusion before speaking. "There can be no compromise. I am tasked with killing the bridge builder, and you with defending him. Unless you intend to give him up."

"You know I won't. But you can. Gato can't be trusted. Just stop fighting and I promise we'll let you go. Please. You spared my teammate's life, you can't be a bad person."

The masked boy shook his head and sighed. "There can be no surrender, for what it's worth I am truly sorry."

Naruto frowned. So much for stalling. And there wasn't a whole lot he could to to fight the boy on equal footing. Sage mode was too dangerous (_Sage Mode? Since when...?_ He shook himself out of the thought), summoning probably wouldn't be possible, and most of the other techniques he knew would kill his opponent outright. He didn't want to have to go that far.

So what did that leave? A handful of simple ninjutsu, his taijutsu, and shadow clones. Just like old times.

Haku watched the other boy with a mixture of fascination and worry. How did he suddenly get that much faster? What was that short burst of evil chakra, and why didn't it last? Naruto was an enigma, and fighting something you didn't understand could only ever be dangerous.

Haku moved to draw more senbon, and the other boy's face seemed to light up suddenly. That fleeting, open expression reminded Haku of why he didn't want this fight, and why he didn't want to kill the boy if he could avoid it. Naruto was so open, so friendly. How would he react if he found out about Haku's past? But no, it wasn't worth thinking about. In another life, perhaps, but not now.

Naruto brought his hands together into a cross, a seal that Haku remembered was for the shadow clone technique. This could be challenging. Multiple Naruto clones moving at his newly-enhanced speed would not be easy to defeat, and with his injured left arm, he would be at a reduced ability to dispel them. No matter. He watched the dozen or so clones charge while drawing more senbon. It shouldn't take much to disrupt the clones. Haku drew his right arm back swiftly to throw, but it met with sudden resistance.

His arm was caught, and he turned in surprise to find a Naruto holding painfully onto his wrist. _How?_ He glanced back to where Naruto had been standing and saw a fist-sized rock bouncing off of the ground.

_Body substitution!_ He should have seen that coming. He threw the senbon in his other hand at Naruto's face, forcing Naruto to duck while Haku simultaneously wrenched his arm free. Haku followed the motion by throwing senbon at Naruto's clones, but they had spread out and he only managed to dispel a few.

And then Haku found himself in another melee, this time outnumbered. Fortunately for him, he was still faster and the clones were easy to remove. Unfortunately, there were a lot of the clones, and they managed to get a number of glancing blows on Haku's body. He felt his clothes rip from a particularly vicious blow that just barely missed his chest, and then more on his arms as the clones tried to grapple.

Haku realized then that staying in melee was a mistake. He was only moderately faster than the clones, and their numbers were too much to fight in close quarters. Haku took a play from Naruto's actions and switched with a stray block of stone right as a clone's attack would have hit him. He watched with no small amount of satisfaction as the clone dispelled itself by breaking its fist on the block.

Now at a healthy distance, he started forming the seals to his ice mirror technique. While Naruto was almost as fast as his normal speed, Haku's enhanced speed would be far too much for him. And Haku could hit and run, attacking from range, which would once again tilt the battle in his favor.

He finished the seals and watched the familiar ice mirrors form. He took a moment to sigh in relief as the technique finished, but then saw one of the Naruto's smirk. _Smirk!_ What was he up to? Haku got his answer when he saw two of the clones go through the seals for what looked to be the fireball technique.

"That won't work," Haku said. "Your teammate tried fire, remember? You may be stronger than him, but it's still not enough to defeat my ice."

"You're right, it's not. But this is."

Haku looked at the Naruto that had spoken, and saw it going through a few quick seals for a technique he didn't recognize. Then the other two clones released their fireballs, and the third released his technique.

_Wind!_ Haku realized a moment before the techniques collided. This would be-

His world exploded into white, and he felt himself bouncing and skidding along the surface of the bridge. He slammed painfully into the railings and fell to the ground. Haku forced himself back to his feet as his senses slowly cleared.

He saw what looked like a war zone. Shattered bits of stone had gone flying in every direction, and Naruto was slumped against the opposite rail, groaning and semi-conscious. The explosion had temporarily dispelled the mist, and he could dimly see the outlines of Zabuza-sama and the copy-nin Kakashi, still fighting. Closer, he could see Tazuna struggling to stay conscious, kneeling on the ground and groaning while the pink-haired girl seemed unconscious at his feet. Haku looked back to Naruto and saw him slump forward onto the stonework, seemingly still fighting to stay conscious.

This was his chance. If he killed Tazuna now, it would end this whole fight without any further bloodshed. And he didn't know if he could win in an honest fight. Haku was still somewhat rattled from the explosion, but he could still hit his target from here. He went to draw a senbon from his sleeve, but his stash wasn't in his robes. Nor the backups he kept strapped to his chest. They must have gotten lost in the explosion. No matter, he'd just do this the hard way.

Haku charged Tazuna, intending to kill him bare-handed. In his peripheral vision, he could see Naruto regaining his feet. Haku had no time to waste, and he pushed for as much speed as possible, while careful to stay secure in his footing. In the few moments it took to close the gap, he saw that the pink haired girl was out of the fight completely and barely breathing. Tazuna wouldn't have been able to move in time even if he was a ninja. A civilian didn't stand a chance. And Naruto was still too far off to stop him.

The instant as he struck, everything went wrong. "Tazuna" looked up at him with a familiar smirk and caught Haku's wrist the instant before it would have pierced his skin. The disguised clone twisted Haku's arm painfully and put him in a suppression hold, locking his arms behind his back. He tried to fight back, but his head was still swimming from the explosion, and he couldn't get a good hit on the clone. The clone grabbed Haku's injured arm roughly, and the pain caused Haku's vision to narrow as he fought to stay conscious. He watched the pink-haired "girl" stand up with an identical smirk as the illusion faded. Haku watched, helpless, as Naruto thrust his glowing hand, fingers extended, into Haku's stomach. He groaned involuntarily as his world went black.

* * *

><p>Kakashi and Zabuza both froze when the demonic chakra flowed over them. Kakashi spared a glance in the direction of his student, but couldn't see anything through the mist. This was bad, if the fox got loose- but just as suddenly as it came, the chakra disappeared.<p>

That worried Kakashi almost as much as its existence in the first place. The disappearance of the Kyuubi's chakra meant that either Naruto got it under control or... well, he didn't want to think about the alternative. There would be time to worry about that later.

The fight resumed, and Kakashi realized that he was at a disadvantage. But he could bide his time, though the Sharingan wasted chakra faster than he would like. He sparred with Zabuza, waiting for an opening, or a stall in the fight when he could summon his nin-dogs.

His only warning was a large flow of chakra. His Sharingan identified the elements being gathered and he turned his head away while Zabuza looked towards the disturbance. And then the world exploded. The flash and concussion hit them simultaneously. He managed to stay on his feet; unfortunately so did Zabuza. The two of them both looked over to survey what happened as small fragments of ice and stone rained from the sky. Naruto and his opponent were both staggered, and Sakura looked to be knocked out, with Tazuna on his knees, barely conscious. Sasuke was nowhere to be seen. That worried Kakashi for a moment, until his transplanted Sharingan showed him that the two who appeared to be Sakura and Tazuna were under a henge.

So his students had something planned. Good. Kakashi looked back to Zabuza, who was blinking in an attempt to clear what was no doubt a large afterimage from his vision. His guard was still up, but his attention had wavered ever so slightly. It was the opening Kakashi had been waiting for. The mist was reforming from its temporary dispelling, so he didn't have much time.

He charged, forming the lightning cutter as he ran. Zabuza refocused on him, but it was too late to flee back into the still-scattered mist. Zabuza brought his sword up to block with surprising speed, and Kakashi was forced to abandon the killing blow for a hit to the shoulder. Flesh and blood burst out in a large area of Zabuza's back, obviously ruining his shoulder. Probably permanently.

Zabuza jumped back, forcing himself off of Kakashi's hand and just barely avoiding the chidori in his other hand as Kakashi swiped it at his throat. Zabuza slumped slightly and readjusted his grip on his sword as his damaged left shoulder and arm refused to respond.

With that injury, Zabuza wouldn't be able to defend himself properly. It was time to finally finish this. And apparently Zabuza thought the same, he charged towards Kakashi with his sword ready to strike.

But he was far too slow and clumsy now. It was an obvious move of desperation, trying to catch Kakashi off guard while he recovered from the chakra expenditure. It could have worked in theory, but it wasn't fast enough. Kakashi drew a kunai as he dodged the attack. He stepped forward inside Zabuza's guard and thrust the kunai through his throat, then wrenched it free as violently as he could manage. Zabuza dropped to his knees, gagging and sputtering blood. Kakashi jumped away as the mist cleared for good.

He glanced over towards his students' fight while still keeping his guard up, and saw Naruto running towards him. Naruto's opponent lay slumped on the ground while a clone sat on his back. He glanced around to see a number of Naruto clones climbing over the ledge back onto the bridge, presumably from where they were hiding. They were carrying Tazuna, Sakura, and Sasuke, and of the three only Sasuke seemed to be seriously injured.

He was impressed. But before he could say anything to Naruto another voice rang out.

"So, they've already lost? Pathetic. With as much as they wanted, I expected them to be able to handle a few Konoha nin. Or at least last a bit longer than this."

Kakashi glanced at the now probably dead form of Zabuza before turning to look at the newcomer. He couldn't be sure if the missing-nin was dead, but from that position it would be difficult to catch Kakashi off-guard. The newcomer was an affluent-looking man in a tailored suit and holding a cane. Behind him was a whole company of mercenaries and bandits, clearly itching for a fight. Kakashi's chakra reserves were unfortunately fairly low, and he wasn't confident of his ability to win while protecting his students. He glanced over as Naruto stopped beside him. Maybe Kakashi wouldn't have to win on his own.

"But I wasn't planning on paying them anyways, so I guess you get what you pay for," the man who must be Gato said with a shrug. "Stupid missing-nins, they didn't even kill Tazuna. Oh well." He turned slightly towards his hired thugs and said, "Well, what are you waiting for? Kill-"

He never got a chance to finish; his head was suddenly separated from his body by what Kakashi's Sharingan revealed to be a fine blade of air. Kakashi looked over in shock towards Naruto, who had his hand raised as wind chakra dissipated from his straightened fingers.

Kakashi could only stare as Naruto stepped forward, and with a perfectly calm expression said, "Any one of you that wants to fight me will meet the same fate. Leave, now, and don't go near the town. Harm no one. Do that, and I'll let you live. Otherwise..." Naruto looked meaningfully at the decapitated corpse of Gato.

Just a few seconds later, a crossbow bolt bounced off of the stone in front of the mercenaries. They turned to see the villagers assembled there with improvised weaponry and Inari in front. After a moment of silence, a single voice sounded out, "Screw this" as a man in the back fled. That seemed to open the floodgates, and all the mercenaries turned and bid a hasty retreat.

Kakashi finally let himself relax slightly at that and covered his Sharingan. The immediate danger was past. But there was obviously something off with Naruto. There was no way his genin knew elemental manipulation, especially not Naruto. His control simply wasn't good enough for it. As he watched, Naruto seemed to relax and run over to Inari as the two of them shouted nonsense about "heroes arriving late". The sudden change was startling in its difference. The boy seemed to be back to what Kakashi was used to.

Kakashi walked over and checked Zabuza. The swordsman was indeed dead. Kakashi then moved over to check on the others. One of Naruto's clones walked over to him and looked him in the eyes. It still had the same look that Naruto did earlier and it raised Kakashi's guard slightly.

Unnervingly, the clone seemed to pick up on that and relaxed his stance while raising his arms in a reassuring motion. "Haku is unconscious, I put a five elements seal on him. He'll probably regain consciousness soon, though, so you should probably tie him up. I don't have any wire on me. Sasuke is injured, but Haku avoided hitting critical areas and put him into a false death the same way he did with Zabuza. Another clone should have told Sakura that, and she should be tending to him right now. Tazuna and Sakura are uninjured."

The report was informative and professional, covering all of the immediate concerns. Except for one. The clone seemed to sense what Kakashi was about to say, and spoke again. "My actions will require a lot of explanation, I know. Don't be too hard on him, or, um, me," the clone seemed to flounder for a second before speaking again. "As I said, it's a long story. Talk to me once we're somewhere private, now's not really the time. I'm not being controlled by the fox, and I promise I won't cause any problems. Just wait until that conversation. Until then, I suggest you handle Haku and your other students. They're both going to be pretty shaken up, but for different reasons." And with that, the clone dispelled.

Kakashi looked up at the rest of the scene. The other clones all looked up and nodded at him before dispelling themselves. It was almost unnerving. And the Narutos, both the clone and the original, had spoken with such calm authority. It sounded like someone who was used to being obeyed, and expected it. It was not a tone that Kakashi was expecting from him. In fact, it sounded eerily like the boy's father.

That wasn't possible, was it? Minato-sensei had sacrificed himself to seal the Fox. But he had only sealed a part of the Fox, so maybe there was something of him in there? Kakashi shook himself, dispelling the line of thought. There was no point in settling on any theories yet, he'd have a better idea after that conversation. Until then, he'd wait and watch.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **So there's chapter two. I'm not completely satisfied with it, and I may come back to edit it later. I'm mostly editing as I write, and I probably will go back through this (much) later to improve it. As always, constructive criticism is appreciated. Let me know what you think. The next chapter should be up by the end of the day next Sunday. Until then.


	3. Confusing Conversations

**Chapter 3: Confusing Conversations**

Naruto wasn't really paying attention to his conversations with the villagers. He was mostly thinking about what had happened to him during the fight. He really didn't get it. He remembered everything he did, what he had thought, and why he had done everything he had. Yet it didn't seem completely real. It was almost like it was a dream, but the memories were far too clear, too real.

The worst part was, he didn't understand half of what he was thinking at the time. He had known all sorts of techniques, really powerful techniques. Really cool ones. At the time, it was so easy. Now he only remembered the names. Like "Sage Mode". It seemed really cool and impressive somehow, but he didn't even know what it was.

_It's hard to explain._

Naruto jumped and looked around for the voice, but didn't see anything. And Inari was looking at him funny. So he laughed nervously and scratched the back of his head while shrugging, and Inari went back into his conversation. What the hell was that?

_It was me._

Naruto jumped again. OK, this was officially scaring him. What the-?

_Look, calm down. You're making a scene. Act normally and I'll explain._

Naruto nodded, then halted the motion abruptly, realizing that it went against "acting normally" to nod randomly for no reason.

_Good. Now, I'll try to make this as simple as possible. I'm you. From the future. And I'm inside you._

That was kinda gross. He didn't want anyone inside of him. Naruto frowned. He already had a tenant, now that he thought about it.

_No, I'm not the fox. It's not even here any more. Look, I'm not explaining this very well. Let me try again. Several years from now, I lost. Everything. And I was given an opportunity to come back in time to try to make things better. But I needed an infinite amount of chakra to do it. So I used the fox. Now it's gone, and I'm here. You'll never have to deal with that damn fox again._

OK, that was unexpected. No more fox. And he had a future version of himself inside his seal instead. That was - actually really cool! Now the future him could teach him all sorts of powerful techniques, like that sage mode thing!

_You're not ready for that yet._

Naruto pouted. All the adults refused to teach him because of the fox, and now he wouldn't even teach himself? That's just unfair.

_Look, I am willing to teach you. Eventually. But it's actually really dangerous and I want to have some safety precautions in place before attempting it._

Oh. Well, that was different. Naruto was willing to wait, a little, if it wasn't safe. But surely there were other cool techniques he could teach himself! Teach himself? Have older-him teach younger-him? Wow, that was gonna get confusing.

_Yeah, it probably will. But I can't really think of anything else for you to call me, so it's going to just be confusing for a while._

Naruto thought about that. And then he had an idea. The older him had the same parents, and was older. Like an older brother. So he would be Nii-san.

_... Fair enough. I don't have anything better._

So Nii-san came back in time. That was awesome. Maybe Naruto could travel through time!

_It was kind of a one-off thing. Without the fox there's no way of doing it._

Oh. Well that was lame. Naruto was forcefully brought out of his thoughts when he walked into the door frame of Tazuna's house. He groaned and rubbed his head. Sakura rolled her eyes as she walked past, then resumed fretting on Sasuke.

Sakura. Naruto was still confused about her. He had memories of his clones dealing with her. At first she had seemed relieved for the reinforcement. Then she listened to Naruto's plan, and went along willingly. She only needed help after the explosion to prevent her from falling off of the underside of the bridge. After carrying her up, he would have expected her to react violently, but she seemed strangely quiet during the whole thing. He would have asked her why, except the moment she saw Sasuke she started crying and ran to him. One of Naruto's other clones had explained that he wasn't dead, but it took a while. She had completely ignored him. It surprised Naruto how much that still hurt.

_I wish I could say it got easier. Maybe it will for you. But she never loved me, so it's probably best if you just gave up on her._

How could Nii-san say that? Sakura was the best. She was cute, and smart, and-

_Not much else, yet. Oh, she could really be someone. But at the moment, you just have a crush. Give it up. Trust me, it'll be easier to just think of her as a friend._

Naruto wondered how Nii-san could say that. After all, he had pretty much said that he was in love with her. Or future-her. Whatever.

_Yeah, I was. And it never worked out for me. Never could. She only ever had feelings for Sasuke. Even after-_

Nii-san suddenly went silent, and Naruto suspected that he had almost said something important about the future. Maybe he should ask-

_Good job of acting naturally._

Naruto blinked, and realized he'd been standing outside, frowning, for a long while after everyone else had gone inside. He groaned mentally. He really wasn't good at acting. He shook himself loose and headed inside.

He didn't see anyone in the main room, but he could hear Sakura talking upstairs. No doubt she was fretting over Sasuke. Naruto sighed and sat down at the dining room table. Maybe Nii-san had a point. Maybe she wasn't worth it.

_Was I really that naive? You just bought everything I said without questioning it?_

What? Nii-san had lied?

_No, I didn't. I only told the truth. I'm just amazed at how easily you believed it. I was expecting more cynicism._

Naruto frowned as he tried to think of the meaning of 'cynicism'. He blinked as he thought he 'heard' Nii-san sigh. That was an odd sound. Sound? Feeling? So confusing.

_Never mind, I just have to remember how different from me you really are._

Naruto wondered what could have changed him that much in the future. If it was him. But it seemed like it was. He didn't know why, but he was sure the older him was telling the truth. He knew it, felt it on some visceral level. This was him. From the future. So weird. And so cool!

Kakashi watched the gamut of emotions cross Naruto's face. The boy was terrible at hiding his feelings, and they would have to work on that. But at the moment, it suited Kakashi's purposes. The boy really did seem to be the Naruto he knew, if a very distracted Naruto. He hadn't missed the boy's choice of paths outside. If the whole thing wasn't so concerning it could be pretty funny.

Naruto didn't seem to notice his approach. Kakashi stopped directly across the table from him and waved his hand in front of his student's face. Naruto jumped and then scowled at Kakashi. Kakashi just smiled back. He knew it would annoy the boy, and chuckled to himself when Naruto's scowl deepened. But enough fun.

"We should talk. Follow me," Kakashi said. He motioned to the door and the two of them walked out and into the woods. They were silent as they walked, and Kakashi used the time to observe Naruto. He seemed unusually pensive, and sometimes seemed to space out completely. He clearly wasn't paying attention to his path, and was making far more noise than any self-respecting ninja ever should. But considering the possibilities of what happened, well, Kakashi decided he'd cut the boy some slack.

After walking for a few minutes, Kakashi decided they had gone far enough. He took a quick sweep of the area with all of his senses and determined that the two of them were alone. Then he looked to his student with as serious of an expression as he could muster and said, "We're alone. Explain."

Naruto looked confused for a moment before nodding to himself and straightening up. "Sensei, um, this is gonna sound weird." Kakashi nodded in acceptance, he was expecting something of the sort, and Naruto continued. "Well, um, future me got rid of the fox."

Kakashi blinked at that. Future him? Got rid of the fox?

After a moment of silence, Naruto spoke again. "Nii-san, um, future-me, said I didn't explain it very well. Let me try again," Naruto said, then paused for a moment to collect his thoughts before continuing. "I think that sometime in the future, something went wrong, and I decided to come back in time. Only I couldn't physically go, I could only send my chakra, and, um, my soul? He says they're basically the same thing, though, so whatever. The technique used up the fox's chakra, and he took the fox's place. Inside of me. Or rather, behind the seal inside me. So now there's no fox, and instead there's Nii-san. Um, that's it. I think."

Kakashi stared at his student. That story simultaneously made a strange amount of sense, and was completely impossible. There were no time travel techniques, it simply couldn't exist. But then again, with an infinite amount of chakra available for use, and only sending chakra instead of anything material, the conditions seemed a lot more plausible.

But there was a more likely explanation. In fact, there were several. And now it was his responsibility to check for them. First, "How do we know that it's not just the fox's deception?"

"Because it's not!" Naruto pouted. Then he spaced out again for a moment and frowned. "Nii-san told me to tell you that 'Father said you've beaten yourself up enough about Obito's death. It wasn't something you could control, and you've learned your lesson. It's time to move on.'" Naruto frowned again and asked, "What does that mean? You knew my father?"

But Kakashi was too stunned to answer. That statement was far too meaningful. It changed the probabilities significantly. It was now most likely that either the entity was telling the truth, and it was somehow Naruto from the future, or it was Minato-sensei, lying about who he was for some reason. But he needed more.

"Is there anything else you can say or do to prove your identity?" Kakashi asked of the other directly.

Naruto went unfocused again for a moment, and then nodded. "We're going to try something," he said, and then brought his fingers together in the familiar shadow clone seal. There was a single, large burst of smoke, but instead of a short, orange-clad form there was something else entirely.

The clone took the form of a young man just a few centimeters short of Kakashi's own height. He had a build similar to Minato-sensei's, just somewhat shorter. The hair was almost identical to his old teacher's, but the face was all Naruto. Just like the younger one, the clone's face resembled Kushina far more than Minato. It was interesting to see the blend of features in an adult, and Kakashi was momentarily hit with nostalgia over his lost mentor.

The other thing that really struck Kakashi was what the clone was wearing. Amusingly, the older version still wore a lot of orange, though it was a more muted, burnt shade. Over top of that, though, was a particularly interesting bit. It was a long coat of the same style and cut as the one Minato had always worn, and similar to the one Jiraiya still wore. Kakashi remembered that it meant something significant, though he couldn't recall what. Unlike his sensei's coat, the clone's was a blood red with black flames along the bottom. The final detail that jumped out at Kakashi was the headband that his forehead protector was attached to. It was long and pitch black, which wasn't surprising. What caught his eye was the pair of white stripes on it, one on either side of the metal plate.

The clone followed Kakashi's gaze towards his own forehead, and ran his hands over his head, seemingly feeling for something. "Oh, good, I'm not wearing that stupid hat. I always looked ridiculous in it." The clone looked down at what he was wearing. "OK, my combat wear. I suppose that makes sense," he spoke, seemingly to himself. Kakashi felt his eyebrows raise at that. If the clone was talking about what he seemed to be talking about- well, Kakashi supposed it wasn't that surprising, all things considered. Kakashi mentally chastised himself. He still wasn't sure he believed this entity's story. He glanced to the younger Naruto, who was staring at the clone with what seemed like... awe?

"I look so cool!" he exclaimed. Well, it seemed Naruto wasn't paying enough attention to what the older clone was saying. Kakashi decided that was probably for the better.

The clone stopped checking himself over and stopped to look Kakashi in the eyes. "So what do I have to do to prove that I'm not the fox?" he asked.

Kakashi blinked. "Ah, that's not really what I was really concerned about. As I understand it, sensei's seal wouldn't have allowed the Kyuubi to do something like what you just did. I'd much rather you focus on proving that you are, in fact, a future version of him." Kakashi pointed at the younger Naruto for emphasis. "You can see how I'd be skeptical. Your tale is a bit far-fetched."

The clone seemed a bit taken aback at that. "Who else would I be? I mean, it's not like just anyone would have a message from... oh! You think I'm..." the clone burst out laughing, grabbing his sides as he doubled over. After a moment he calmed himself and continued speaking. "Well, um, I can't do half of what he could. But that wouldn't work very well as proof, so what can I do that he couldn't?" The older Naruto clone paused for a moment to think, then snapped his fingers and thrust his fist into his palm. "That's it!" he exclaimed. "He never finished it."

"Who? Never finished what?" Naruto asked. Kakashi looked over at the younger boy and hesitated, unsure of how to handle the questions. But the clone beat him to it.

"Not right now, kid. I'll explain later. First I have to convince Kakashi that I'm you," the clone said, and Naruto nodded at that, mollified. The clone then looked back at Kakashi for a moment and then held his hand out with his palm up. An instant later, a Rasengan spun into existence in his open palm.

Kakashi raised his eyebrows at that. "You're not really helping your case," he drawled.

"Just a second," the clone answered, its face screwed up in concentration. "I'm still not very good at doing this one-handed." Then the Rasengan wavered and reformed, this time accompanied with a painful, high-pitched whine and small incorporeal blades orbiting it in a ring. Kakashi's eyes widened involuntarily, and he quickly reached up to reveal his Sharingan. It was wind chakra. An elemental Rasengan. Something the Fourth never managed to do.

"We both know that his nature wasn't wind, so it's no surprise he never finished it before his death. As you've probably noticed, Kakashi-sensei, I am wind natured," the older Naruto said. "In fact, you could get one of those chakra papers and test him to confirm what I'm saying," he finished, with a nod of his head towards the young Naruto.

Kakashi nodded, that wasn't a bad idea. He'd have to pick some up when he got back to Konoha. Now that he mostly believed the older Naruto, legions of questions flooded his mind.

The older Naruto must have picked up on that, or expected it. That galled Kakashi somewhat, he'd like to think he wasn't that easy to read, or worse yet, that predictable. "I know you have questions," the clone said, "but please just wait until we get back to Konoha. Once we're there, I'd like to have a meeting with you, Ojii-san, and Jiraiya-sensei. There's," he paused and looked up at the ceiling, seemingly looking for the words. "There's a lot I have to say to you three," he said, looking Kakashi back in the eyes. "I'll answer as many questions as I can then."

Kakashi thought about it for a moment, then nodded. If he was going to have a conversation with a future version of his student about what he guessed would involved dark times, it would probably be best to have those two there. Just this short conversation had given Kakashi a lot more than he was comfortable to think about at that moment. Now he just had to figure out how to explain it to Hokage-sama.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** So now it's hopefully obvious that I'm going to do something slightly different from the usual "Peggy Sue" style stories. Naruto and Future-Naruto are two separate entities, who won't always agree (or maybe even get along, we'll see). I'm trying to write Future-Naruto as a fairly broken person, given all that he's gone through. Hopefully it doesn't just come of as schizophrenic or wangsty.

The next few chapters will, by necessity, have quite a bit of dialog. Some of it will be awkward, and some of that will be intentional. I'm not as comfortable with dialog as I'd like to be, and I'm really not satisfied with the way it has turned out so far. Hopefully, I'll improve it in the editing step.

Also, I don't much care for the title of this story. I'm awful at naming things (which is why I'm naming chapters, to force myself to practice slowly), and the current title was just something I stuck on the document when I started writing. I'll gladly accept ideas for alternatives (though there's of course no guarantee that I'll use them).

This author's note has gone on long enough, so I'll end it here. Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed it. As always, feedback is appreciated. A special thank you to those of you that reviewed, it's remarkably motivating.


	4. Dreams and Journeys

**Chapter 4: Dreams and Journeys**

Naruto opened his eyes slowly, fighting against what seemed like infinite weight on his eyelids. His body was clearly telling him it wanted more sleep, but he had long ago stopped listening to it. He forced himself the rest of the way awake, and was greeted with the sight of Sakura sleeping lightly next to him. Naruto let himself simply enjoy her presence for the moment before reality inevitably intervened.

"She stayed up all night keeping you alive. Again," a familiar voice stated, and Naruto turned his head to face the source. Shikamaru sat, slumped as always, in a seat next to the cot Naruto laid on. "You need to stop throwing yourself in the way of attacks like that," he continued.

Naruto sat up, groaning lightly as his head swam. "If I hadn't, someone else would have gotten hit. Someone without my abilities," Naruto responded. Shikamaru shook his head in that familiar way that managed to convey both frustration and understanding at the same time.

"Even with the fox, you're not immortal. All it would take is one hit, and you'd be dead. You're too important to die a meaningless death out on the front lines," Shikamaru stated, his tone flat and factual. The tone worked too well with Naruto, and he suspected Shikamaru knew that. But he couldn't let it go.

"It wouldn't be meaningless. Hanzo was powerful, any one of his attacks could have taken out a whole company, maybe two. I couldn't let any of them get past," Naruto said as the memories of the day before flooded through the blood-loss-induced mental haze.

Shikamaru nodded and sighed. "Still, there were other ways to save people than throwing yourself in the way. And even if there weren't, it's more important to keep you alive than every single soldier. They knew what they were getting into when this started, they know their lives are on the line. Let your men do their jobs."

Naruto opened his mouth to argue, but then decided against it and nodded silently. They'd been over this too many times to count, and Naruto had to admit that Shikamaru was right, even though he hated it. He hated every time he had to watch good people die in this pointless war. All because of a madman and his designs for 'world peace.' He forced that thought away. He'd been over it too many times too, and rehashing it now would be a waste of time.

He forced himself to his feet and gripped the side of the cot for support as the world spun. Naruto gritted his teeth and forced himself to remain standing. It would pass in a moment, it always did. It was the one upside to his 'condition'. He never needed more than a few moments to recover from anything. He looked down at the still-sleeping Sakura and corrected himself. Almost anything.

Shikamaru was up and beside him in an instant. "You really should get more sleep, even you need some time to recover," Shikamaru said, even as he grabbed Naruto's arm and brought it over his shoulder to provide support. They both knew Naruto wouldn't agree to it.

Naruto shook his head in the negative. "Hanzo's death -re-death?, whatever- gives us an opportunity, and you know it. I have to try to take out Kabuto, we have to get rid of these abominations."

Shikamaru quirked an eye. "Abominations, huh?"

Naruto mock-glared at him. "What? I'm learning!"

Shikamaru laughed, and for a moment the two friends just enjoyed the absurdity of the moment. But it couldn't last. After the short break, the mood returned to its normal sobriety.

Shikamaru stopped and stepped in front of Naruto. "Look, I know the advantage we have now. But you don't have to take it alone. Killer Bee is available, and you know he's just as good in a fight as you are. And I think Gaara's upset that you didn't let him come with you to fight Hanzo. Take them with you. It makes strategic sense, and you know it," he said, with a deliberate echo of Naruto's own words.

Naruto looked at Shikamaru for a moment before nodding his assent. "And the fact that it improves my chances of making it back is just a happy coincidence, huh?" Shikamaru smirked slightly but said nothing. Naruto sighed, and walked towards the command tents. He was about to order and lead an attack that he may not come back from. Just another day on the job, really.

Naruto gasped and sat bolt upright as he woke from the dream. He looked around and saw the semi-familiar interior of his room at Tazuna's house. Not the inside of a medical tent. Not on the front lines of a war. He stood up and walked out the door, careful not to wake up Sasuke. He had to go for a walk, to clear his head. There was no way he could sleep after a dream like that. The dream had seemed so real-

_That's because it was. Well, mostly, anyway._

Naruto jumped slightly at the internal voice of Nii-san, and he was glad he was already outside of the room he shared with Sasuke. He didn't think he'd ever get used to that strange not-sound. And he just didn't understand how it worked. The fox had never spoken to him.

_It would have, eventually. Hell, all I'm doing is trying to emulate what it did to me._

Well that was interesting, but didn't really explain much. How was it that it seemed so much like talking? And why didn't he have to do anything? Nii-san just seemed to read his mind.

_Well, in a way, I am. There's a whole mindscape in here. If I could, I'd pull you in here, but I have no idea how the fox managed to do it. From inside, most of your thoughts are pretty obvious, I can hear them almost as if you were speaking to me._

Well that wasn't fair. Nii-san could keep secrets and got to decide what to um, say. But Naruto didn't get to decide. He pouted. That just figured.

_Well if you'd stop being so obvious about your thoughts I probably wouldn't hear them. You basically do the mental equivalent of screaming every time you think. It's part of the reason why everyone can read you so easily, you can't help but express it. Just calm down, be more subdued and it will come naturally. I suspect if you practice controlling your emotions and not broadcasting your thoughts through your body language, it would help with this too._

Oh. That made sense. Sorta. But he was never very good at being quiet.

_And we both know why. You don't need to be like that any more. You have a team that likes, well, will end up liking you, and a sensei that actually listens and will teach you if you ask. Don't try so hard, just relax some._

Maybe, but-

_I know. Just try._

Maybe he could try. Naruto was willing to admit that it could work. But enough of that! The dream! What was that? Was it something from Nii-san's mind? He'd said it was at least somewhat real. Didn't that mean it was a memory of the future? And Nii-san said that he had better control! Why had he seen any of it?

_Gah, calm down!_ sounded Nii-san's not-voice. The volume of it gave Naruto a stabbing pain in his head, and he clutched his head in too much pain to think.

_Sorry,_ Nii-san said. _That's about what it was like for me. So please, try to calm down? Anyways, yes, it was a memory of mine. Mostly. I think you changed it some. But that's all you're getting. My past is my own, even if we are technically the same person. But as to the why, well, I'm not really sure. I was trying to figure out how to pull you into your own mindscape. It always seemed to come easier for me when I was asleep._

Oh again. This whole thing was starting to make Naruto's head hurt. Or maybe it was from the shouting earlier, he didn't really know. But thinking too hard sometimes gave him headaches, so he suspected it was that.

_That's just because you're not used to it. But you should try more often. Being Hokage requires a lot of thinking, after all._

Naruto frowned, that was true. But thinking was hard. He'd been doing so much of it lately, too. And it he had walked into the door frame because of it. Naruto realized he'd have to be more careful of what he was doing when conversing with Nii-san. Like now. Crap. He wasn't really aware of where he was going, and he stopped suddenly to look around. He was in a clearing in the woods behind Tazuna's house, and it looked familiar for some reason. And then it hit him, this was the clearing where he met Haku. Or talked to, at least. Technically he met the boy earlier, after the first fight with Zabuza. The memory of that masked appearance brought up another thought. What was going to happen to him?

Kakashi had tied Haku up and kept him nearby at all times. Something about not giving the ninja a chance to escape. But Haku didn't seem like he wanted to. He just seemed dead, somehow. There was no life in his eyes, and he obeyed all orders with barely an acknowledgment. What would happen to him?

...What would happen to him? Naruto wondered harder about that, in the hopes that Nii-san would answer.

_OK, OK, yeesh. It's not easy for me to do this, you know. It's honestly almost easier to form the shadow clone and talk to you for real. But we can't draw that kind of attention. So to answer your question, I don't know. He didn't survive in my time line._

Oh. Naruto blinked. So he'd have to figure it out himself. Maybe he should talk to him, try to get him to open up. Or maybe he should leave the boy alone, Sasuke never wanted to talk. But Haku wasn't Sasuke. So talk it was. But he was a prisoner, what would happen when they got back to Konoha? He'd have to talk to Jii-san about that. Haku didn't do anything wrong, not really. He deserved a chance.

Nodding, Naruto headed back to Tazuna's house. Maybe now he'd be able to sleep the rest of the night. And hopefully, if he did have any dreams, they were nicer ones, like the start of that memory-dream-thing. That was nice. The older version of Sakura was _cute_.

Sakura was puzzled. She hated the feeling. She liked it when everything made sense and worked the way she expected. The mission to Wave had completely violated her expectations. Well, that wasn't entirely true. It had started off making sense, though more difficult than she had anticipated. They had been attacked by ninjas. Surprising, but not world shattering. And the fight had gone about as she would have expected, in retrospect. Kakashi left it to them. Sasuke-kun had kicked their butts, and Naruto had been useless. Well, she'd been pretty useless too, but it was best not to dwell on that.

Then there was the first fight with Zabuza. Kakashi had been captured, and it had been Naruto who had come up with the plan to free him. Naruto, the dead-last, had applied Kakashi's defining principle of teamwork to save the day.

And the second fight had been even worse. Sasuke was defeated, while Naruto had won. She wished she could have seen what happened. Naruto was, if nothing else, surprisingly clever with his plans. It probably came from all that pranking. Sakura scowled at that thought. It just didn't make sense. How did the dead-last, a notorious prankster whom everyone told her was no good, beat someone that good? And manage to do it non-lethally?

Sakura broke free from her thoughts and took a look around. They were on their way back to Konoha after saying goodbye to Tazuna, Tsunami, Inari, and the rest of the Land of Waves. Naruto and Sasuke were in front of her, both of them walking in relative silence. Ahead of them, Kakashi escorted their prisoner and kept him within arms reach. The boy - Haku? - was subdued and seemed, well, depressed. But Sakura supposed she'd be pretty upset if in his situation. No, the problem was the rest of her team. Sasuke was silent as usual, but even more difficult to approach and moody than he usually was. She wanted to chalk it up to his injuries, but she couldn't. Something was wrong with him. Naruto was quiet, which was against natural law itself, and kept looking at Haku. He seemed almost pensive. Naruto was not pensive. Ever.

And the worst part was, Kakashi was being serious! When they had left that morning he had told them that he'd contacted Konoha and they'd most likely meet up with ANBU during the second day of their trip. Apparently they would have normally stayed longer, but for some reason they needed to get back quickly. And then he had walked in silence, keeping their prisoner in sight. And the worst part was, there was no sign of that perverted little book! Something was very wrong.

Sakura paused her thoughts, and realized that she was bemoaning the loss of the pervy book. She should be enjoying it while it lasted, but she couldn't. It was just one more subtle way that everything was not the way it should be. Ever since that fight on the bridge. The fight that she really didn't understand. She really wished she could have seen through that mist. One minute, she had been standing beside Tazuna, petrified yet trying to do her part. Then three Naruto clones burst out of the mist and took up formation with her. Not just around her, they seemed to implicitly accept her as part of the group and didn't look down on her. She would never admit it out loud, but that had meant a lot to her. Especially after how badly she had been doing during the mission so far.

And then things got stranger. All the clones perked up at the same instant, and turned to hastily tell her to follow them. They led her and Tazuna to the edge of the bridge, and then over the side. One of the clones carried Tazuna and the bunch of them had walked onto the underside of the bridge and then stopped and waited. Sakura was about to ask them what was going on when that huge explosion shook the bridge and knocked her loose. There was a moment of pure, undiluted terror before one of the clones caught her. One of Naruto's clones had caught her. Naruto, who just a few days prior had struggled so much with the simple tree-climbing exercise when Sakura herself had done it so easily. Now his shadow clones were better at it than she was.

It was maddening. Even more so when, a few minutes later, all three the clones had flinched at the same time and then started climbing them up. She was mortified to be carried back up, but the clones hadn't made a big deal of it. It seemed like they didn't even think it was worth mentioning. Naruto should have hit on her, and stupidly. This just didn't make sense. And when they had gotten back up she had seen Naruto (or one of his clones, it was hard to say) holding the limp body of the now no longer masked boy. And the area was torn apart, probably from the explosion. Kakashi had finished off Zabuza, and one of the Narutos was running towards him.

And then she saw Sasuke, and everything else left her. She ran towards him and pulled him out of the clone's grip. She hadn't felt a pulse or breathing. He was dead, or so she thought. She had wept inconsolably, she didn't know for how long, and had violently dispatched the first clone that had tried to talk to her. It took a long time for her to understand that he wasn't dead. And when Naruto pulled out the needles, and Sasuke had woken up, all she could do was hug him.

But Sasuke had pulled away as best he could and then demanded to know what had happened. She hesitated, and one of the clones gave a brief explanation. Haku was defeated. Zabuza was dead. And then Gato was dead and the villagers were there. The clones helped build a stretcher for Sasuke and then dispelled themselves when there was nothing more to do. Kakashi led the lot of them back to Tazuna's house and she was too concerned with Sasuke to ask questions.

Now, though, she wanted to know what happened. To understand how Naruto won, and why he was acting so strangely. And why Kakashi was, as well. She didn't have enough information. So she decided to ask. She hurried her pace, slowly making her way past the two boys. Naruto seemed to be alternated between thoughtful and almost dazed. He kept glancing at Haku and looking like he was going to move towards the older boy, but then hesitating and falling back into place. It was weirder than she'd thought. And Sasuke was his usual, cool self. But Sakura wondered, sometimes. Especially with Sasuke giving Naruto the occasional quizzical look.

Sakura moved up to Kakashi, on the opposite side from Haku. She opened her mouth to speak, but hesitated when she realized she wasn't sure what she wanted to ask. Kakashi-sensei picked up on the motion, though, and spoke first.

"Wait until we make camp," he said. Sakura frowned. It was a curt dismissal, if not exactly rude. And Kakashi-sensei never stopped his surveillance of the environment. He was obviously preoccupied, which just reinforced her sense of unease. But she would have her chance to figure it out that night. Until then, she would observe and prepare.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** And here's chapter four. This and the two chapters after it have been the hardest to write so far, and I still think they need work. Now that I'm past them, though, my pace should increase. In the event that I get at least five chapters of buffer (I currently have three), I'll post a chapter early, so here's hoping I do write a little faster. Also, I'm still trying to think of a new name for the story, so if you have suggestions please let me know.

As always, feedback is appreciated and thanks for reading.


	5. Down Time

**Chapter 5: Down Time**

Naruto glanced around, looking for more firewood. After the rain that afternoon, finding dry wood was a difficult proposition. And on some level, Naruto was glad for it. It meant he didn't have to talk to Haku yet, didn't have to figure out what to say. It also kept him away from Sakura's quizzical looks and Sasuke's strange, unreadable stares. In short, he was being a coward. And he knew it.

_It's good you're willing to admit that. Saves me the trouble of pointing it out._

Naruto scowled at that. He wasn't a coward! Yet, here he was. Wasting time trying to find perfectly dry wood. If there was one downside to having Nii-san in his head, it was that. He couldn't even pretend anymore, not with someone in his head!

But before he could think on it more, there was a slight rustling in the bushes behind him. He spun, drawing a kunai as he turned to face his foe. But instead of a missing-nin intent on his death, Sasuke walked out from the underbrush. Naruto blinked in confusion. Sasuke was standing there, like he was waiting for something, while giving Naruto a quizzical look. Naruto wondered at that for a second until he realized he still had a kunai in hand. He sheathed it, grinning sheepishly. He waited for Sasuke to speak, but when he said nothing Naruto went back to fruitlessly searching for firewood.

"You're never going to find any out in the open, dobe," Sasuke said in his usual condescension. But then he did something different. He motioned to near where he was standing, and pulled aside the brush to reveal some relatively dry wood. Naruto blinked again, unsure of the sudden change in Sasuke's demeanor. Sasuke rolled his eyes and tossed a piece of potential firewood to Naruto. "Come on, there's more over here." Naruto nodded and walked over, and the two of them collected firewood in silence for a moment. It was so weird. Sasuke wasn't acting like himself. Where was the arrogant jerk that he usually was?

"So what happened after I got," Sasuke paused, grimacing, then after a brief moment continued, "removed from the fight?"

Naruto blinked stupidly, mentally grasping for an answer. What was he going to say? He couldn't tell the truth. Not only would Sasuke not believe him, Naruto wasn't sure he wanted to let anyone else in on his odd new secret. And for some reason he really didn't want to share it with Sasuke. But Sasuke was being unusually polite, and, well, friendly. For him. And the last thing Naruto wanted to deal with now was Sasuke's normal jerkish self. So he'd have to say something. But what?

Naruto's first instinct was to make up a grand tale of his own awesomeness, but as he opened his mouth he rethought that. For once, he didn't want the attention. It was best to say something believable, and downplay himself. He really didn't want Sasuke asking any questions if he could avoid it. So a different story was in order.

"Umm..." he stalled, and saw Sasuke's annoyed look. Great start. "I don't really remember," Naruto said, then cringed at his own pathetic lie. Make it more believable, then. "When I thought he killed you, I just got really angry..." Naruto watched as Sasuke's expression became unreadable and continued, "So um, we fought. Then I got lucky and lured him into a trap." Naruto finished his explanation with a shrug, just hoping that Sasuke wouldn't ask any questions. Sasuke stared at him for a moment, then shook his head and walked back to camp.

Naruto was relieved. It looked like Sasuke believed him. He frowned slightly as he thought he felt what seemed like a sigh from Nii-san. But he shook it off and worried about the other conversation he was about to have. He distractedly finished collecting firewood and walked back to camp. His thoughts continued to spiral fruitlessly around the problem of Haku. He didn't snap out of his daze until he felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked to who was holding him. The hand belonged to Kakashi, who was calmly preventing Naruto from walking into the fire. Naruto grinned and scratched the back of his head, carelessly dropping the wood beside the fire. He laughed nervously as Kakashi sighed and shook his head then walked away.

Naruto took a moment to look over the camp. Sasuke was sitting by the fire, brooding. As always. Sakura looked oddly withdrawn, sitting opposite Sasuke but not fawning over him. In fact, she was watching Naruto until he looked at her, then she hastily looked away. Weird. Haku sat off to the side, still restrained, staring off into nothingness. This would be the hard part, and he really had no idea how to do it.

_The first step would be going over there._

Naruto scowled at that. Of course that was the first thing to do. He determinedly walked over and sat in front of Haku. Naruto looked at Haku, but the older boy didn't even acknowledge his existence. He simply stared off into space with a dead look in his eyes. An eerily familiar look. Naruto shuddered slightly before forcing away the discomfort. He needed to talk with Haku. Nobody deserved to be like that. But he had no idea what to say. He opened his mouth and shut it again multiple times, each time stopping before he said something stupid. He wasn't any good at this. Why wasn't Nii-san helping?

_Because you need to learn to do this yourself. It'll be good practice for being Hokage._

Naruto frowned again, but Nii-san had a point. He tried to assemble his thoughts into something useful, but Haku spoke before he had finished.

"Why didn't you kill me?" Haku asked without looking at Naruto. He just continued staring blankly into space.

Naruto just stared at Haku. The obvious despair in Haku's voice bothered Naruto. A lot. It reminded him of his own darkest times. "You said that like it was a bad thing," Naruto spoke before realizing it.

Haku looked up and stared back. There was a long, uncomfortable moment before Haku spoke again. "My only precious person is dead. You took away my reason for existing. Zabuza-sama was everything to me. Now he's dead, and I failed to protect him."

Naruto jumped up at that. His first instinct was to yell, to demand to know how such an evil freak could be his precious person. But he felt a pressure to stop. He didn't know if it was Nii-san or some part of him, but he listened either way. He sat down and asked, as calmly as he could, for Haku to explain.

And Haku did. He explained his bloodline, the deaths of his parents. His life in the streets, on the run. His rescue from the streets by Zabuza. Their life as a team, and Zabuza's harsh training methods. His whole life story. And suddenly it made sense.

"You're just like me," Naruto spoke again without thinking. Haku looked at him sharply, his stare demanding an explanation. Naruto looked down, unable to meet his gaze, but he knew he did have to say it. Naruto took a deep breath before continuing. "I grew up an orphan. I never met my parents. Everyone hated me, and I didn't know why. For the longest time, I had nobody. Jii-san -um, the Hokage, that is- tried, but he had so many other things to do." Naruto floundered for a moment before forcing himself to continue. "I lived for those few moments with him. The lady at the orphanage liked to pretend I didn't exist. The other kids weren't so nice. I had... a few bad encounters before Jii-san caught on. I moved out, and I was completely on my own. For years. When I went to the academy I met Iruka-sensei. He's one of the teachers there. If it wasn't for him, I don't know what I would have done."

Naruto forced himself to look up at Haku. "If something had happened to him... I don't know what I would have done. So I understand. But," Naruto stared into Haku's eyes, trying his hardest to make sure this next part got through, "It got better. I have friends now, and a sensei that treats me well. And it can get better for you, too. I said it before, but I'll say it again now. I'd like to be your friend." Naruto reached his hand out in offering.

Haku looked down at his outstretched hand and then back into Naruto's eyes. He examined Naruto, seemingly looking into his soul. Naruto forced himself to keep his gaze even, despite the discomfort. After a long moment, Haku nodded and grabbed Naruto's hand. They shook once, and Haku seemed to brighten somewhat. Life came back into his eyes, if only slightly. It was a start.

Sakura watched Naruto speaking to Haku with a mix of fascination and suspicion. Why was he doing that? It was yet another oddity. She had spoken to Kakashi briefly when they had made camp, but it was fruitless. He either answered with next to no information, or he avoided answering completely. The little book was back, though she suspected it was just an attempt to deflect further investigation. She kept thinking through what little information she had, but nothing came to her. She was so deep in thought she almost missed Sasuke-kun sitting down next to her. Next to her! She was so excited she almost missed when he spoke.

"They're hiding something from us," Sasuke said in his usual, blunt manner.

Sakura blinked, and then let the information process. So Sasuke had picked up on it too. Of course he did. But why was he coming to her?

"What happened on the bridge when I was unconscious?" Ah, so that was why. So she told him, as best as she could remember. He listened, seemingly in deep thought and his scowl progressively deepened as she spoke. When she finished there was a short silence before he spoke again. "I don't get it. The dobe's just not that _good_."

Sakura nodded. Sasuke was right, Naruto wasn't that good. And he kept speaking.

"How did he create that explosion?" he asked.

"Exploding tags?" she suggested. Sasuke shook his head in the negative.

"Maybe, but I don't think he was carrying that many. And how did he manage to knock out our opponent?" Sasuke glanced over to their prisoner and Naruto as he continued. "And why is Naruto talking to him now?"

Sakura shook her head. "I don't know. And Kakashi-sensei won't tell me anything."

Sasuke nodded. "He won't tell me anything, either." They stopped to think in silence. After a moment, Sasuke broke the silence. "Any ideas?"

Sakura blushed at that. Sasuke-kun was asking her for ideas! But she didn't have any, and told him so apologetically. He just sighed and stood up. "Keep your eyes open and tell me if you have any ideas," he said and then walked back to the other side of camp, once again lost in his own thoughts.

Sakura wished she could have helped him more, but she was stumped. Apparently Sasuke was too. It was oddly reassuring, she wasn't missing anything obvious. But it was still baffling, and she had so little to go on. Sasuke was right, they'd just have to keep their eyes open and watch for any clues.

Unfortunately, the rest of the trip was largely uneventful and uninformative. When they met up with the ANBU the next day, Naruto said goodbye to Haku. It wasn't unexpected, given their previous conversation, which she hadn't managed to overhear. After the prisoner hand off, the trip was uneventful. Quiet, even. Naruto remained withdrawn and Kakashi still seemed oddly serious, though the little perverted book came back out. In all, it was a frustrating trip, and Sakura found herself wishing for something to break the somber mood. She got what she was wishing for when they got back to Konoha. They were greeted at the gate by an ANBU guard, with orders to head directly to the Hokage's office. The mystery deepened.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** Short chapter. I'm not happy with it, honestly. It's a lot of little things that I needed to write to help build up to later chapters. There was more I wanted to put in, but I couldn't figure out how to fit it in without it getting awkward (or even more so than it already is). Bleh. This is another chapter that I really want to edit again later. Probably will. But I promised to get these out on Sundays, so here it is (if only barely on Sunday in my time zone). I promise the next chapter will be longer (and hopefully higher quality).

As always, feedback is greatly appreciated. Thanks for reading.


	6. Debriefing

**Chapter 6: Debriefing**

Naruto yawned and stretched again as the ANBU escorted Team 7, minus Kakashi, to the Hokage's office. He wondered where Kakashi-sensei had gone off to in such a hurry, but he said he'd met them at the tower. Naruto would have questioned him, but he just couldn't get the energy for it. He wasn't used to being this tired, even after little sleep. It was somehow more than he'd ever experienced before, deep into his bones. It sucked. All because of the weird dreams he'd had. Naruto guessed it was more of Nii-san's memories, but it was nothing like the first time. Last night had been a bunch of random and disconnected flashes of sights and sounds. It still made him a little dizzy just thinking about it. Or maybe that was the tiredness again. Stupid tiredness.

And Nii-san was being quiet again. He wanted to ask so many questions, but Nii-san had told him to wait until the debriefing. Debriefing. Who said stuff like that, anyway? Apparently he did, or would. Whatever. The whole thing was confusing, and too much when he was this tired. Kami, why was he so tired?

_Because your body's used to having the infinite chakra of the Fox, and now it doesn't have it. You should get used to your new recovery rate fairly quickly, it didn't really change your amount of chakra at all. Plus the fight on the bridge took a lot out of you, and you've only partially recovered._

Nii-san! He was back! And answering questions!

_Wait until the debriefing, like I said before._

Crap. That sucked. Nii-san could at least explain why he was being so quiet.

_Because this takes energy. I'm still tired too, plus there are things in here that I'm still trying to figure out._

Well that explained it, and didn't. Nii-san could be so annoying like that. He could at least explain what he was doing!

_Later._And with that, Naruto felt the strange presence in his mind fade away again. He didn't know if he'd ever get used to that. This meeting couldn't come soon enough. Naruto had so many questions. Like about "sage mode" and "rasengan" and those weird things he did with wind, like kill that Gato guy.

...Oh yeah, he'd killed Gato. Why had he forgotten? Naruto frowned. Was he some kind of monster to think so little of killing someone, even someone so horrible as Gato?

_Don't go there. That whole fight was surreal for the both of us, and you did the best thing you could to prevent a slaughter. Yes, killing is hard, and it should always be hard, but that was a special case. I barely remember the fight, and I can hardly blame you for not remembering it well. We'll talk more later._And with that, the Nii-san faded away again. That was getting annoying. But he had other things to think about now. Like that fight

That fight _was_strange. He remembered all of it, but it just seemed so surreal. Nii-san seemed like he had some idea of what had happened, so Naruto added it to the long list of questions he wanted answered. It was now the second on the list, right after his father. Naruto wasn't going to forget that comment any time soon. It sounded like Kakashi-sensei had known Naruto's father, and Nii-san acted like he had spoken to the man! Naruto frowned. He would get answers! He hated it when people hid stuff from him.

Even though that was really stupid, since he was a ninja. And holding more than one huge secret. But whatever, family was more important than that! He should know!

Naruto came to a sudden halt as he ran into his own collar and choked. He coughed and looked up to see Kakashi-sensei holding him back and frowned. The man was smiling his usual eye-smile like he found something funny. Naruto didn't think anything was funny! He looked at his teammates. Sakura rolled her eyes, then looked at him weirdly. Sasuke just glared, as usual. What did he do that was so strange? He turned to face back where he was going and stared straight into a wall.

Oh, so that was the funny part. Stupid Kakashi. Just because he hadn't figured out thinking and walking yet! Ok, that sounded pretty bad, but Naruto knew what he meant, this whole Nii-san thing was distracting - still, he should practice that. He didn't want to look dumb. Dumber. Naruto pouted, then brought his determination. He would get better at that, he was a ninja, and would be Hokage! A Hokage had to think a lot, and he couldn't go walking into walls!

Naruto felt Kakashi's hand on his shoulder, stopping him. He blinked as he realized they were already at Jii-san's office. That was fast. He really needed to practice.

* * *

><p>Hiruzen Sarutobi watched as Team 7 filed into his office. Kakashi seemed pensive, but hiding it. That was to be expected, if even half of his report was true, the man would have a lot on his mind. Naruto looked distracted, and thoughtful. It was an unusual expression on the boy, but it was strangely reassuring to see. Naruto had never really slowed down to think before. If nothing else, that could be good for him.<p>

The other two students he admittedly didn't know as well, so Sarutobi could only make generic assessments. The pink-haired girl, Sakura was her name, was studying Naruto while trying to seem like she wasn't. Sarutobi had to stop himself from chuckling at that, her fascination was completely transparent, but not unexpected. If he recalled correctly, the girl was in the top of her class for intelligence, she should have picked up on something. Especially with as obvious as Naruto was acting. Hiruzen looked over to the last member of Team 7. The Uchiha, and Sarutobi hated himself for thinking of the boy as only a member of his clan, seemed even more sullen than he remembered. He might have to keep an eye on that, it could be dangerous given the unusual events that were currently unfolding.

But on to those current events. Once the guards closed the doors, he told Kakashi to begin his report. And what a disturbing report it was. Gato had done a number on Wave, and Sarutobi wished he could have done something earlier to prevent it. The addition of missing-nin, Zabuza in particular, easily made this an A-rank mission. A client lying about the difficulty of a mission was more common than Sarutobi would like, but there was little he could do about that. Wave would just have to pay the difference once their economy recovered. And it looked like it would, with Gato gone. But he made a mental note to check up on the country now and again, just in case.

When Kakashi got near the end of his report, it became increasingly obvious when he was leaving out information. Sarutobi noted that even his own students seemed to notice, with Naruto the only one who didn't look obviously confused. He still looked thoughtful. Kakashi soon finished his report, and Sarutobi acknowledged the increase in difficulty of the mission, and congratulated Team 7 for the removal of Zabuza. And then came the important part.

"Sakura, Sasuke, again, good work. Dismissed." The two students looked confused -though the Uchiha was trying to hide it- but they left just the same. Once they had gone and the doors were once again shut, Sarutobi looked over to his student in the corner. Naruto and Kakashi followed his line of sight. Naruto's jaw dropped, and Kakashi seemed mildly amused by the boy's reaction. Clearly Naruto had not noticed the Sannin, but the man was remarkably good at hiding in plain sight. Jiraiya stood and nodded, then walked over to the door and sealed it shut.

"Well, that was awkward," he said, then walked over to stand beside Sarutobi's desk. "You could have a real pain in your ass with those two, Kakashi. They're already catching on that something is up."

Sarutobi was forced to nod in agreement to that. It could become difficult if Kakashi let it. Kakashi shrugged in acknowledgment, as eloquent as ever. But it was Kakashi's problem, and they had other reasons to be here.

"So, Naruto, why don't you explain what's going on," Sarutobi suggested.

Naruto nodded and opened his mouth as if to speak. But before anything came out he stopped and his eyes glazed over for a moment. Then he shook himself a little before speaking. "Nii-san, um, future-me, said he'd like to explain it."

Sarutobi nodded in acknowledgment, then watched as Naruto formed the seal for the Shadow Clone technique. Even with Kakashi's preliminary report, he wasn't fully prepared for the older version of Naruto. And it looked like an older Naruto, older and far more experienced. He had that air of someone who has seen more than their fair share of the world and its problems. It wasn't a look Sarutobi ever wanted to see on someone so young. The clone appeared to be no older than twenty, all told, and could easily have been less. Sarutobi motioned for the clone to report. And it did, its statements covered only somewhat more than Kakashi's report.

Sarutobi looked over the shadow clone again. If it was a falsification, it was a remarkably good one. There were details that even Sarutobi never would have thought of. He wasn't sure what to say, but fortunately his student took the lead.

"If you are who you claim you are, you'll excuse me for being skeptical. But your story is, well, unbelievable. First off, time travel is impossible. Secondly... well, let's just stay with the time travelling thing for now."

The clone sighed, but nodded. "Under normal circumstances, you'd be correct. But da- the Fourth's seal makes it a special case. The shinigami exists outside of time, and we tunneled through it to get here. Now. And we used to the Fox's chakra as a source of power, which is why Naruto," the clone motioned to the younger Naruto as he spoke, "doesn't have the fox anymore. Neither do I, for that matter."

Sarutobi pondered that. It seemed at least possible, if not completely believable. There were a few problems with the way the clone explained it, but he couldn't think of anything that ruled it out completely. The Dead Demon Consuming Seal used in such an unusual manner as what Minato had done could, theoretically, allow for this. It chagrined him somewhat to realize that he never would have thought of that, and it reminded him why he had picked Minato as the Fourth. The man was a genius, and apparently remained so even after his death.

"I admit, that seems almost plausible, but it's still pretty far-fetched," Jiraiya said. "It's going to take a lot to convince me you are who you say you are."

The clone nodded, and seemed like it had been prepared for that. "Would it be more convincing for me to tell you something I know, or show you something I can do?"

That was an interesting question, and seemed to stump Jiraiya for a moment. So Sarutobi took over. "It would seem that any knowledge you would have would either be something that could be discovered by normal means or something from the future and therefore unverifiable."

Naruto, and Sarutobi realized he did think of this entity as an older Naruto, tilted his head in thought for a moment before speaking. "I don't know about that, I could certainly start naming S-class secrets that you haven't told him," he said, while tilting his head towards the younger Naruto. The boy perked up at that.

"Yeah! Like about my dad!"

Everyone in the room collectively flinched at that, including, Sarutobi noticed, the older Naruto.

"Maa, so you remember that. I was hoping you'd forget," Kakashi said.

"Like hell I'd forget about that! You know who he was and you've been hiding it from me!" Naruto pointed a finger accusingly at Kakashi, then turned to face Sarutobi. "And if he knows, it means you know, jii-san." The look of betrayal on the boy's face was almost too much for Sarutobi, and he regretted not telling him before now. He hated having the boy he thought of as a grandson look at him like that.

Surprisingly, the older Naruto came to his rescue. "Look, kid, they have their reasons for not telling you. I don't really agree with them, but understand that it's as much for your protection as anything else."

The younger Naruto looked up at the older, confusion evident on his face. "But..."

"How about this, kid. I'll solve two problems at once. I'll prove to them that I am who I say I am while showing you something you want to see."

Naruto perked up again at that. "Ooh! Which one?"

The older smiled down at him for a moment. "Sage mode," he said, then closed his eyes and stood completely still.

Sarutobi was sure he let some of his surprise show on his face. Sage mode. That was, well, remarkable. He looked over to Jiraiya, who was staring at the clone in shock, his eyes wide and jaw dropped. Sarutobi frowned at that, it wasn't like his student to get so flustered. He looked back to the clone and felt his own eyes widen at what he saw. The clone was in sage mode already. With no assistance. And the only indication was the change in the coloration of his eyes. If he remembered correctly that meant...

"A perfect sage..." Jiraiya muttered aloud. "It's just- I never- and so fast."

"Maa, would someone mind filling me in? Sensei mentioned sage mode a few times, but I know little about it," Kakashi stated.

Jiraiya nodded absently. "Sage mode is only taught by the toads of Mount Myoboku, and it's exceptionally difficult to learn. The nature chakra you take in to perform the technique can easily overwhelm you and turn you into a stone frog. The quality of a sage can be measured by how little they transform. A perfect sage changes only the area around the eyes, like that," he motioned to the clone as he spoke. "I've never fully mastered it in all of my years. And to pull in that much nature chakra that quickly, with that much control. I don't think there's ever been a sage that good."

The clone blushed at that and scratched the back of its head. "Well, since the fox wouldn't let me fuse with Shima or Fukasaku, I had to learn a different way of doing it."

Interesting. The reaction seemed very much like the Naruto that Sarutobi had helped raise. And yet he couldn't let himself believe. Not yet. He needed more.

"Impressive," Sarutobi said, "Yet I find myself wanting more evidence." The clone looked up at him, with hurt evident in his eyes. It looked so much like one of Naruto's expressions that Sarutobi almost gave in. But the Hokage needed proof.

"Show them what you showed me," Kakashi said. Sarutobi wondered at that, and shot Kakashi a questioning look. All he got in return was Kakashi's amused expression. Before he could say more, however, he felt the flow of an immense amount of chakra.

Sarutobi looked back to the clone to see it forming a technique. He raised his brow in surprise as he recognized the technique. A Rasengan! That was remarkable. The only other living people who knew the technique were in the room, and Sarutobi doubted either of them had taught the boy. It was certainly evidence towards the entity's relation to the Fourth, if nothing else.

But then he saw the technique change. Wind chakra replaced the non-elemental chakra. The Rasengan changed form slightly, with protruding blades of air and it began emitting a high pitched whine. That was... next to impossible. Even Minato had never finished the technique, and this entity, this boy... Sarutobi's train of thought temporarily derailed as the implications set in. He felt his pipe drop from his fingers, yet did nothing as his mind raced. This certainly removed a large number of possibilities, and greatly reduced the possibility of several others. And the primary remaining possibility seemed to be what the boy had explained.

After a brief moment, Sarutobi recovered from his shock and collected himself. He glanced over to Jiraiya to see his student equally stunned, and then glanced over to Kakashi. The jounin wore an obnoxious expression of smug amusement. Sarutobi glared at him for a moment, then addressed the boy.

"You've made your point. Dispell the Rasengan. For now I have little choice to take you at your word."

The clone nodded in response and let the technique dissolve. Sarutobi spared a glance to the younger Naruto who was glancing around the room in confusion.

"Why does that keep convincing everyone?" he asked. "I mean, it's cool, yeah. But I don't get it." He haruumphed in a very Naruto-like fashion and crossed his arms, looking in turn at everyone else in the room.

Sarutobi was oddly grateful for the boy's interruption. It gave him time to collect himself and reconsider the facts before him as Jiraiya explained the origin of the technique. He noted Naruto's fascination with the powerful technique. He was always happy to see the boy interested in something other than pranking, it happened far too rarely.

But he let the conversation recede from his mind as he considered. As he'd told the clone, for the moment he had little choice but to accept the story. But he needed more information, a lot more information. And he would have someone watch the boy, just in case. What little he'd said didn't make complete sense. The fox's disappearance, for one, should be impossible. He'd need to talk with Jiraiya about that, nobody in Konoha or its allies knew more about the tailed beasts than him.

Once the conversation had died down, Sarutobi looked back to the clone. He -it- looked almost expectant. Well, time to continue with the pressing matters.

"No doubt you have an interesting tale to tell us. But you'll have to forgive me, this is a lot for an old man to take in. You're dismissed for now, but I expect a written explanation and history by the end of the week. We'll meet again after that." That should give him enough time to consider the possibilites, and go over the information with a fine toothed comb.

The clone slumped slightly, but nodded. "I'll write it down on one condition: nobody outside of those of us here ever sees that document." Sarutobi nodded at that, it was a prudent precaution. But the clone went on. "That includes your former teammates. Danzo is a traitor, and can't be trusted." The clone's eyes noticably hardened, and Sarutobi wondered at the story behind that. "I don't know about Homura and Koharuo, but I know they work too closely with the traitor for my comfort."

Sarutobi nodded his acquescence. He knew of Danzo's questionable choices, but the conviction in the clone's voice bothered him. Perhaps Danzo was further gone than Sarutobi knew. Or perhaps this entity had some ulterior motive in discrediting Danzo. It pained Sarutobi to think of that possibility, but he reminded himself that as Hokage it was his job to think of all the possibilities, no matter how uncomfortable.

The clone sighed, then ushered Naruto to the door, and told the boy to meet him outside. The clone closed the door behind Naruto, then turned again to face the room. "There are a couple of things I want to say without him here," the clone said. Sarutobi motioned for him to continue. The future Naruto took a deep breath and visibly collected himself before speaking again. "Things get really bad starting at the Chuunin exam in a few months. Lethally bad. So please, listen to me. Things need to change, for everyone's sake."

Sarutobi blinked at that. Nobody outside of the Kages and a few trusted messengers yet knew about that. Both Kakashi and Jiraiya sent him questioning looks but he ignored them. "Noted, we will meet as soon as possible."

The clone nodded, paused in contemplation for a moment, then spoke again. "One other thing. The kid's more perceptive than most people give him credit for, and he's noticed a few things that I've let slip. I'm going to try to keep our parentage from him, but one of you should tell him. Soon. He's been picking up some of my memories in his sleep, and I don't know how long it will be until he finds something that mentions Minato. I've known for a long time, but it was hard at first, knowing that you three kept it from me. Don't make him find out from me, or worse yet someone else like I did." And without waiting for a response, the clone dispelled itself.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **I'm back from my unannounced hiatus. Sorry about that, a bunch of real-life things hit me at the same time. I think I have my life back in order (for the moment), and now I will restart for real. So yay. This chapter isn't edited much (read: at all), so sorry if typos and such snuck through.

As always, feedback is appreciated (and motivates me to write more). Thanks for reading!


	7. Training and Observation

**Chapter 7: Training and Observation**

Naruto stumbled slightly as he felt the shadow clone disperse. It was weird, somehow. Different from when one of his normal clones dispersed, but he couldn't put his finger on exactly how. Or why. Maybe Nii-san would tell him.

_Think about it, see if you can figure it out._

Naruto pouted slightly at that. It was him! An older version of himself! He should tell himself what he knew- Naruto paused to make sense of his own train of thought. This whole time-traveling-duplicate-in-his-head thing was just getting more and more confusing. He hoped it was one of those things that got worse before getting better. But he was getting off track! He still wanted to know why, and Nii-san wouldn't tell him. There was a lot Nii-san wasn't telling him. Or teaching him!

_You're in luck. As soon as we find someplace sufficiently hidden, I plan on teaching you._

Awesome! He could learn all sorts of cool techniques, like that glowy-ball-thing, um, Rasengan. Or that other technique he used to defeat Haku. Or-

_Let's find someplace to train, first._

Good point. He'd go to the usual training ground, almost nobody ever went there.

_"Almost nobody" isn't good enough. I have somewhere else in mind._

Naruto couldn't help but pout at that, but he followed Nii-san's directions anyway. They took a bizarre path of back alleys and rooftops. In fact, it seemed like it was supposed to be confusing. Like Nii-san didn't want him to find it on his own.

_Nope, try again._

Well, if he wasn't trying to confuse Naruto, then why was he taking such a weird path? It had to be to confuse somebody, but nobody else was here. Unless somebody was following him? That was it! Nii-san was trying to lose someone!

_Good, you figured it out. But pay attention to where you're going._

Naruto twisted in midair to dodge a clothesline he almost jumped into. It was good he figured that out, but he really needed to pay attention to where he was going. He hadn't even noticed anyone trying to follow him! And he still didn't. Crap. But that worry fled to the back of his mind as Nii-san gave him more directions.

After a long and confusing trip, Naruto found himself at a training ground he didn't recognize. It was out of the way, even for a training ground. And it looked like nobody else had been here for a long time. Naruto looked around the small field he found himself in. It was relatively normal for Konoha, with a bunch of trees and a small brook. The only thing unusual about it was how overgrown and unused it was. He guessed it was abandoned because of where it was. To one side was part of the Konoha mountains, to the other was a scary fenced-off area.

_The Forest of Death._

Good name. It fit. The place gave Naruto the willies just walking past. Maybe it would scare off whoever had been following him. Now that was a question, who was following him?

_Nobody, they're gone now. Beyond that, well, be more observant next time._

Hey! That wasn't fair! Nii-san was supposed to be teaching him!

_Teaching isn't just telling you, sometimes you need to figure things out yourself._

Fine. But Nii-san did agree to teach him, that was the whole point of coming out here.

_True._

So what would they start with? There were so many cool techniques that Nii-san knew! Naruto bounced with anticipation for all the awesome moves he'd learn. He felt a laugh from Nii-san, then a slight tug against his chakra as the older clone puffed into existence.

"So, now that we're here, it's time to start training," Nii-san said. And then he paused for a moment. "But first, did you figure out why my clones dispersing felt different from yours?"

Naruto opened his mouth to speak, but stopped before his usual exclamation. There was really no point, Nii-san was him. And he was usually in Naruto's head.

_Still am._

Gah! Why? How?

_A shadow clone is a duplicate, it doesn't change me. Though it does tire me out, I gave that clone most of my chakra._

Oh. Why did Nii-san do that?

_You'll see. Answer the question. I'm going to be asleep for a while._

Naruto blinked and looked back to the clone. This was extra confusing. The clone looked amused, and probably knew what had just happened. Jerk. But he did need to answer the question, and honestly. So. "No, I didn't."

"That's OK, I didn't figure out the trick to shadow clones until Kakashi pointed it out for me. And I was older than you."

Naruto felt somewhat better at that, if Nii-san hadn't figured it out until later, it wasn't so bad that he didn't know now.

"So to help you figure it out, I'm going to do the same thing he did for me," Nii-san said while forming the shadow clone seal. A single clone popped into existence and waved at Naruto. "Make your own clone and have it follow mine."

Naruto did as ordered. The clones went off into some bushes while Naruto took the time to get a good look at his older self. It was so weird looking at what he would be. But before he could ponder that too much, he felt the increasingly familiar sensation of one of Nii-san's clones dispersing. A moment later, a flood of memories flashed through his mind. The two clones walking off into the forest. Nii-san's clone leading his to a clearing, then-

"Hey! You didn't need to do that!" Naruto shouted. That was such a-

"Didn't need to do what? I didn't do anything," Nii-san said.

Naruto blinked. That was true. The clone had- How did he know that? Naruto looked up into Nii-san's eyes as he realized what the point of this was.

"I know what the clone knew," he stated in wonder. Why had he never noticed this before now? He'd used shadow clones so many times, but he'd never noticed. He went over the memories from the clone, reliving something he himself had never done. It was surreal. He knew everything that had happened as if he himself had been there. But there was something off, something he was missing.

"Good. And that's the basis of the training," said Nii-san.

Naruto blinked in confusion, then asked "How does that help us train?"

Nii-san stared at Naruto funny, and Naruto felt increasingly uncomfortable under that stare. He felt like he had done something stupid again, missed something obvious.

"Because now we can train you multiple times in parallel. Think about it. If ten shadow clones train for an hour and then disperse, you'll gain the memories and experience of ten hours of training."

Oh. That made sense.

"And better yet, we can focus different clones on different things. It's useful because a lot of what I'm going to teach you is pretty linear."

Linear?

"Like a line. You have to do one part before moving on to the next," Nii-san said with a sigh.

"Hey! How'd you know what I was thinking? You can read my mind!" exclaimed Naruto. That cheater!

But Nii-san just shook his head slowly. "No, I can't. You're just that easy to read."

Naruto frowned. Oh yeah. He was supposed to be practicing being calm or whatever. But he'd do that later. There were more important things now.

"You can teach me all sorts of cool techniques now! All at the same time! This is awesome!" Naruto exclaimed. This would be great!

"No," said Nii-san. The look on his face was as serious as one of Jii-san's. But still...

"Why not! You said you'd teach me!"

"And I will, but we'll start where you need it. The basics."

"The basics! I don't need that! I need powerful techniques!"

"You'll get powerful techniques once I'm convinced you can handle them. But you need to build up your basics, your lack of control and fighting technique is holding you back. Especially without the fox."

"I'm plenty awesome without the fox!"

"**THIS ISN'T A JOKE!**" Nii-san shouted and Naruto flinched away. When he looked back, the older him was pinching the bridge of his nose while visibly calming himself. He took a moment to breathe, and then continued. "This is important. You _need_ to learn the basics, and learn them well. Without them, you'll just get in the way as often as not. And with what's coming, you need to be good. Need to be able to protect them. Otherwise people will die. People you love. A lot of them." Nii-san's voice quieted near the end, and he stared off into space for a moment. It kinda creeped Naruto out a bit.

But Nii-san was right. If something happened that forced him to come back in time, it had to be bad. And Naruto wasn't going to lose anyone. He looked up at Nii-san, determination burning through him, and gave a single nod.

"What do I need to do?"

* * *

><p>The room stayed perfectly silent after Naruto left as everyone considered what had been said. Eventually, Jiraiya decided to break the silence.<p>

"So who do you think told him?"

Sensei and Kakashi both looked over at him with questioning gazes.

"His parentage. Who do you think told him? Who outside of this room even knows?" Jiraiya met their gazes with his own, and each seemed to consider it.

"Well, with the way he looks it's pretty obvious," Kakashi offered.

"His father, yes," Sarutobi said. "But with the way he spoke, he was referring to both his parents. Few people even knew they were friends, much less married."

"True," said Kakashi, "but there weren't many Uzumaki in the area at the time of his birth. It wouldn't be too hard to figure out if you knew either of them."

"So that would leave quite a few people. Tsunade, Hiashi, Danzo, perhaps even one of the Toads," Sarutobi said.

"You're leaving out one other option," Jiraiya said. Both sensei and Kakashi looked over to him as he took his dramatic pause. "Minato himself. We don't really know how the seal works, and Naruto himself admitted that he met his father after he died. Maybe it wasn't the first time. It would be just like the kid to include a trick to it like that. He always did have a flair for the dramatic."

Sarutobi-sensei nodded and a small grin cracked his aging features. "We all know where he got that."

Jiraiya chuckled. "Always was proud of him."

After a brief pause, Kakashi spoke again. "So do we believe he is who he says he is?"

Jiraiya looked over to Sarutobi-sensei, who paused for a moment in thought. Jiraiya knew the old man, knew the kinds of thoughts that had to be going through his head. Knew the horrible possibilities he had to entertain. It was one of the many reasons Jiraiya never wanted the job.

Eventually, Sarutobi spoke. "We have two real options, as I see it. Either it is what he says, or this is an elaborate scheme by the Kyuubi. I'm not sure which is more likely. Time travel should be impossible, but the techniques and information he knows makes the alternative just as impossible." He sat back as he spoke. "I'm not sure which to believe, and I'm not sure which I want to believe."

"What do you mean? Of course we don't want this to be the Fox's deception," Kakashi said. "If the Kyuubi is capable of all of this, we have no idea what it could do."

"Indeed," Sarutobi agreed, "but consider the alternative. What kind of future would it need to be for Naruto to take the measures he did? What would need to happen for him to feel forced to travel through time and undo everything? Especially given the kind of strength he seems to have."

The room fell silent once again as everyone did just that. It wasn't a pleasant thought, especially given the few comments the clone had made near the end. Whatever dark times were ahead, they were going to start soon. Unless...

"There is another option that we haven't considered," Jiraiya said, breaking the silence. "It could be something else entirely, something we have no knowledge of. It would figure, too, give it that twist ending."

"Your perspective is... unique, as always," Sarutobi-sensei said. He never did have much of the writer in him, but at least he had always appreciated Jiraiya's input. It was disturbing how often that kind of 'twist' wound up true, and Sensei had learned the value of Jiraiya's seemingly bizarre ideas. "And somewhat distressing. I hate to admit that I had not seriously considered that possibility." He sighed and paused once more in thought.

"So we need more information," Sensei finally spoke. He sat up into what Jiraiya thought of as his 'business pose' as his tone switched over to that of command. As always, it was an odd transition to watch. "Kakashi. Bring Naruto here. Our Naruto. I have some questions I want to ask him." Kakashi nodded in acknowledgment as Sensei turned to face Jiraiya. "Jiraiya, speak to the other. See what you can find out. Treat him as if he is speaking the truth, but get all the information you can. We need to know if he's being honest, and we can't trust him fully until we know. Find out." Jiraiya straightened his posture and nodded his acknowledgment. "And until we know for sure, I'm placing ANBU on the both of them as a discreet escort." A polite way of saying he was ordering the ANBU to tail them. Jiraiya really didn't want the old man's job.

"Any final thoughts?" Sarutobi asked, glancing between the two of them.

"I didn't include it in the report due to the... personal nature of it, but the older Naruto did tell me one other thing of note," Kakashi said. Sarutobi nodded for him to continue. "He brought a message from Sensei, about," he paused for a moment, and Kakashi seemed oddly flustered. Jiraiya hadn't seen him like that in years. "About Obito, telling me to move past his death. The phrasing, the topic, all of it matched Sensei's style. It couldn't have realistically come from anyone else." Jiraiya blinked at that. He'd have to get the message verbatim from Kakashi, or maybe Naruto. He trusted Kakashi's assessment, but it wouldn't hurt to make sure. He glanced over at Sarutobi to see the man staring back at him. Apparently he'd thought the same thing. Jiraiya nodded at him and Sensei relaxed slightly.

"For the record," Jiraiya said. "That was actual sage chakra. There's no way of faking that," he finished. It was true, to the best of his knowledge. There really was no way of faking Sage Mode, at least, no known way.

Sarutobi picked up his pipe and re-lit it. "Those are both reassuring, thank you. I find it more likely by the minute that he is telling the truth. But your orders stand." Jiraiya and Kakashi both nodded. "Dismissed."

Jiraiya followed Kakashi out of the Hokage's office, and as he closed the doors behind him he heard Sensei mutter, "And now I order ANBU to spy on one of the Leaf's most loyal. I'm so sorry, Minato."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **Blast! Late again. Sorry about that, I'm still having difficulty with the chapter after this, and I was hoping to get it finished before posting this. Still hasn't happened, but I figured it'd be better to get this out instead of making you guys wait any longer. Hopefully I'll get past the blocker soon, it should (hopefully) be quicker to write once I do.

As always, thanks for reading. Please let me know what you think!


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